Monthly Printed Newsletters

Create a Proper Newsletter Marketing Strategy to Drive Business Growth

If you saw a headline about newsletters, most readers will think the topic is newsletters sent by email.

Not so. Open rates on emails are declining badly. You hardly need me to tell you your inbox is full. Everyone has multiple email addresses and many going unchecked. Not too clever if your newsletter goes to the un-read inbox.

The newsletters in this article are 100% physical. They are printed and sent through the mail. To you personally at your one address.

Some readers will already be sending newsletters. I spoke to the Managing Partner of a leading local law firm yesterday and his well-branded firm encouragingly does send printed newsletters. They send them just three times a year. You think that’s enough? It isn’t. Are you thinking that you do not want your customers to tire of receiving your newsletters?

TIP #1 A newsletter is not a business update.

If you pack your newsletter with stuff about your business, your customers will tire faster than a fat bloke running for a bus to get to the gym.

If you are guilty of packing your newsletter with scintillating updates all about your business and industry, then you are missing the point. If you understand this fully your business could be set to make a lot more money. Your customers just aren’t interested in your products as such. It’s all about people.

Imagine you are a dentist. You may think your patients are interested in before and after pictures of teeth, new procedures and the latest flossing product. They aren’t. I doubt even fellow dentists would be.

STOP NOW if you are producing ‘company brochure newsletters’!

The most likely reason why my legal friend is mailing his newsletter so infrequently is probably because he thinks he needs to keep his brand top of mind – YES. He will also be thinking his clients may benefit from lots of information about other stuff they do – NO. Lots no, some yes. If your newsletter is so intensively about your firm, you are making a fundamental miscalculation.

TIP #2 Monthly is better than quarterly.

Your newsletter should go to existing customers and those who have expressed an interest in working with you. A regular physical newsletter sets you apart from your competitors. They are highly unlikely to be doing this.

Thinking they are right? Do not mix up their strategies with what is best for your business though. If they are the crowd, run the other way.

Frequency does keep you top of mind. That’s why monthly eclipses quarterly. This is important, because in the next month, your customers may just be having a conversation with someone-else about your solution. Your newsletter can prompt them ahead of time to recognise they are in this particular dialogue and then remember you and be willing to refer you. A frequent newsletter frames their response during those critical times when they are discussing things with others where you might help.

Can you hold your newsletters to get you referrals?

TIP #3 Printed newsletters say you care.

Your customers are getting fewer personalised mailings. They get very few personal letters. When we get a personal letter we love it. So your monthly newsletter fills a ‘personal letter’ gap. We crave being recognised. Your customers have already shown they know, like and trust you. So your newsletter offers them a way to get to know you better. It offers you a way to be seen to be appreciating them too.

I touched on email newsletters above. They are not the answer to any question involving significant profit growth. Open rates are the inverse of postal ‘open rates’. Remember, people love personal mail. Your newsletter can and should be personal.

Print says you care. Email suggests you are cheap.

Why is caring about your customers SO IMPORTANT? The number one reason why people leave you is that they perceive you do not care about them. 68% of people who leave, think you are indifferent to them. Apathy breeds attrition.

If you take away your ‘relationship’ with your customers, what is left?